God of Mercy and Compassion

Scripture Reading:
Exodus 33-35

There's a line of Scripture that has bothered me for a long time, and I came across it again today. The verse is Exodus 33:19 -

"And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

I guess I understand what's going on here, when I look at it in context. Moses has asked to see Your glory, and You agree. Perhaps, probably, this statement about having mercy on whom You will have mercy is simply to emphasize to Moses that even though You are granting his request, You are the one who is ultimately in control. As Robert Altar says in his commentary, Your goodness is not amenable to human prediction, calculation, or manipulation. Even though Moses had found favor in Your eyes, and in this case You were granting his requests, in the end You cannot be told what to do. I suppose that is really the meaning of what's going on here. Basically that You are all powerful, we should not believe that any ritual, prayer, or suggestion will force You to do what we desire.

What bothers me about the passage is sinking a little in the light of this new understanding, but it still stirs my soul to want to question You slightly. The way that this is worded makes it seem like You may choose not to have compassion on some people, that You may choose not to have mercy on some people. I suppose that there are lots of logical reasons why You wouldn't have compassion on people (like they refuse Your mercy and grace, and they harden their hearts against You, like Pharaoh). Still, just saying that there are those who don't receive Your mercy and compassion, that seems so out of character with You. You know, and if You're the one who ultimately decided who You dole out Your care too, does our attitude and such even matter?

I know that there are other glorious sides to You as well, that may negate this weird mystery problem. I know that consistently throughout the Scriptures You are a God who limits Yourself for our sake. Though You have the right and the power to control everything You often bend to answer the prayers of the ones who love You, You allow us the freedom of choice, and eventually in the story of Scripture, You limit Yourself to human form and come to be with us. As far as this mercy and compassion question goes, perhaps there are limits involved here as well. Perhaps You allow Yourself to be limited to answering the prayers of those who cry out, though You could simply ignore them.

Maybe that is another great lesson of praise for me today (why do I consistently say maybe when I'm talking with You. Maybe because I want to know You, but I hesitate to say I've got it all figured out.) What I mean by a lesson of praise is that if You have the right and the ability to do whatever the heck You want, and then You choose to limit Your self to answering my prayer. That's incredible!

My prayer for today? Have mercy and compassion on Your people, just like Moses prayed. I'm not sure that we've angered You enough that You don't want to go with us, but just like Moses begged, You have to go with us. Life isn't really worth living if You aren't walking with us. So be compassionate as You are Lord, be gracious as You are, and come with us wherever we are going today.